President Donald Trump said he may prioritize a bilateral trade deal with Mexico over Canada and that he’s building a good rapport with Mexican President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, Bloomberg reported.
The U.S. and Mexico are “getting closer” to reaching a trade deal, and the administration may advance separate talks with Canada later, Trump told reporters at the start of a cabinet meeting in Washington on Wednesday.
According to the President, he and newly elected Lopez Obrador are “doing great.” “I just wanted to let you know that we have had very good session with Mexico, with the new president of Mexico — who won overwhelmingly — and we’re doing very well on our trade agreement,” Trump said. “So we’ll see what happens. We may do one separately with the Mexico and we’ll negotiate with Canada at a later time. But we’re having very good discussions with Mexico.”
Earlier this year, Trump said he may break up talks for a new North American Free Trade Agreement into separate tracks with Canada and Mexico. The three countries have failed to nail down a deal to revamp the pact over almost a year of talks, with wide differences remaining over key issues such as auto-content rules and a sunset clause, Bloomberg adds.
Mexican Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo said on Wednesday he’ll travel to Washington next week for ministerial-level Nafta talks. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Mexican officials are in constant contact, according to a USTR spokesperson who declined to be identified in an emailed response for a comment.
Top Trump administration officials visited Mexico City last week to meet the current and incoming administrations, providing the first chance for Lopez Obrador to set a tone for U.S.-Mexico ties after the July 1 election. The visitors included Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen and White House senior adviser Jared Kushner. Lopez Obrador takes office Dec. 1.
Members of Lopez Obrador’s Nafta team are working with the Pena Nieto government as consultants for the talks until the new administration takes over, Guajardo said last week.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Wednesday said that there’s been “good progress” in talks with Mexico, which are paving a “promising avenue.” “We’re having very productive talks with Mexico,” Kudlow said at the CNBC Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha conference in New York.
Trump on Wednesday pointed out Canada as an example of a country that treats the U.S. unfairly on trade, particularly over agriculture. “We’re breaking down barriers so that our farmers can sell their goods to other countries like they sell their goods to us. We’re doing it as rapidly as possible,” Trump said.
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